Darjeeling and elsewhere in India.
Unarmed officers wandered freely about Gyantse town, and the monks of
Palkhor Choide, the monastery behind the fort, willingly conducted
parties over the most sacred spots. They even readily sold some of the
images before the altars, and the silk screens which shrouded the forms
of the gigantic Buddhas. I mention these facts about the carpets and
images because, when hereafter they adorned Simla and Darjeeling
drawing-rooms, unkind people began to say that British officers had
wantonly looted Palkhor Choide, one of the most famous monasteries in
Tibet.

A little shooting was to be had, and officers wandered about the plain,
gun in hand, bringing home mountain-hare--a queer little beast with a
blue rump--duck, and pigeon. Occasionally an excursion up one of the
side valleys would result in the shooting of a burhel or of a Tibetan
gazelle. The country-people met with were all perfectly friendly.

Another feature of those first few peaceful days at Gyantse was the
eagerness with which the Tibetans availed themselves of the skilled
medical attendance with the mission. At first only one or two men
wounded at the Red Idol Gorge were brought in, but the skill of Captain
Walton, Indian Medical Service, soon began to be noised abroad, and
every morning the little outdoor dispensary was crowded with sufferers
of all kinds.

But during the last week in May reports began to reach Colonel
Younghusband that, so far from attempting to enter into negociations,
the Lhasa Government was levying an army in Kham, and that already five
or six hundred men were camped on the other side of the Karo la, and
were busily engaged in building a wall. Lieutenant Hodgson with a small
force was sent to reconnoitre. He came back with the news that the wall
was already built, stretching from one side of the valley to the other,
and that there were several thousand well-armed men behind it. Both
Colonel Younghusband and Colonel Brander considered it highly necessary
that this gathering should be immediately dispersed, for it is a
principle in Indian frontier warfare to strike quickly at any tribal
assembly, in order to prevent it growing into dangerous proportions. The
possibly exciting effect the force on the Karo la might have on the
inhabitants of Gyantse had particularly to be considered. Accordingly,
on May 3 Colonel Brander led the major portion of the Gyantse garrison
towards the Karo la, leaving behind as a